Only Two Colorado Colleges Make NPR's Top College Rankings

Last month, we posted about Forbes list of the top Colorado colleges — and noted that their performance left plenty to be desired.

Note that only twelve institutions from Colorado were included in the 650 institutions of higher learning nationwide that made the magazine's cut, as opposed to thirteen the previous year. (Colorado Mesa University — which I attended! — dropped off the roster.) 

In addition, seven of the twelve colleges that made repeat appearances actually slipped — sometimes a little, other times more than that.

Still, this achievement looks impressive in comparison with Colorado's finish in a recent study by National Public Radio.

As the broadcaster points out, the federal government provides plenty of information about colleges but resists ranking them. So NPR decided to do so using three different standards: "Schools That Make Financial Sense," "Schools That Encourage Upward Mobility" and "Schools That Make You Money."

There are fifty colleges in each category — but when it came to "Schools That Make Financial Sense" and "Schools That Encourage Upward Mobility," none from Colorado appear.

That leaves "Schools That Make You Money." Two Colorado colleges landed on that list, but they finished near the middle of the pack. Here's a screen capture from the NPR post showing the top thirty.



As you can see, the University of Colorado Denver finished in 25th place, while the Colorado School of Mines was 27th.

And where are the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Denver, not to mention the other schools that caught Forbes' attention?

Mark them as absent. To see all three lists, click here — and listen to the NPR piece below.